New here, can anyone relate?

Hi, I am not sure if this is the correct thread to post this, but I am new here and I am just wondering if anyone can relate to this. I have had a very strange upper Back Pain for a few weeks. It is intermittent, i feel it for maybe 3 or 4 seconds (fairly severe), deep, and burning, it feels like a nerve pain. It then goes away and returns every 5 or 10 minutes. It also moves around, sometimes it is right on my upper throacic spine, just below Neck, sometimes its in the Shoulder blades, sometimes it radiates to the chest. No motion seems to make it better or worse. I have had abdominal ultrasounds, chest xrays, thoracic spine xrays, all of which came back negative, also blood work was clear. I have been under extreme stress before this all began. Can anyone relate to this kind of pain?

 

Adam,

Your description sounds like Shingles without the rash. Of course, I'm not a doctor, but I had similar pain and it was misdiagnosed until the rash appeared. Steve Ozanich, who wrote "The Great Pain Deception," told me that Shingles is like a by product of TMS and caused by stress and tension and you also wrote that you were in extreme stress.

Perhaps check in with your Dr. about it. In the meantime, if you're open to natural stuff, go to a health food store and get L-Lysine capsules 500 mgs. It's an amino-acid that rebalances the system where the Shingles virus flourishes. Take 1 on an empty stomach 20 minutes before each meal, 3 or 4 times a day. See if that helps.

 

Thanks for the reply. I'm not so sure it's shingles because this is just another in a long line of odd symptoms. Started about 2 months ago with a bad upper spine pain that hurt mostly when I sneezed, during the night, and especially bad in the morning (very stiff and sore upon waking). That went away, and then I got an odd deep discomfort/burning in my upper back right side, and under my arm. It came and went for 2 weeks, then went away. I then got these weird headaches in one spot and a tingling rigjt hand for 2 weeks, also resolved. Afterwards I had a period of muscle twitches (lips, feet) which were extremely irritating. Those went away as well. I am now left with the current symptom I described above, as well as an intermittent mid back ache. These symptoms (starting with the first set) caused me immense health anxiety ( worst stress I have been under in my life) and then more and more kept appearing. I have seen my doctor, who did a full blood exam, abdominal ultrasounds, chest xray, thoracic spine x ray, urinalysis, all clear. Could this be tms? These symptoms have coincided with an incredible period of anxiety, and are so widespread and different that I am starting to think it is psychological, but I am worried my doctors are missing some horrible disease.

 

Adam, The fact that it's moved all around points very strongly to TMS. That is good news. Your bloodwork would have shown that further tests were needed and it didn't. Take heart in that. Health anxiety is awful. Many, many people on here can testify to that.

I don't know how old you are, but please know that tension and anxiety play mean tricks on the brain and create physical havoc. Read other people's posts on here about the SEP program that is free on here that has helped many.

 

I'm 28, I have asked my doctor for a cat scan or mri to rule out other things but as of now he refuses to order them because the other tests were negative. I also get an odd squeezing feeling under my right rib cage, but I have had two clear abdominal ultrasounds. Does tms have these kinds of symptoms? It seems people mostly complain of muscle pains.

 

Yes. And you'll see if you look around on here that people have had everything from migraines, to burning pain, tingling, toothaches, jaw stiffness, scalp pain, pelvic pain. I think Sarno in one of his books talks about people having pain in the chest area.

If I can be so bold, 28 is a big year. As you head towards 30 you suddenly feel like you should know what you're doing and what you want. There's a lot of societal pressure on this time. I wish someone had told me when I was your age that you don't have to stress…that there is no "made it." And, to do what makes you happy first. Maybe ask yourself what dreams you have set aside, or what you would do if you knew it would go well.

 

Lately my focus has been 100% on my symptoms at the expense of everything else. Seems like when one goes another comes and I go through a cycle of trying to link it to some fatal illness. My doctors don't want to order more tests like cat scans or mris because my current tests have been negative so I am still filled with uncertainty. It does seem though that everytime a symptom goes a new one appears, or they will overlap. I have a hard time accepting some of them are TMS. For example, since I wrote this post, the weird nerve pain in my upper back has calmed down, but today I have a kind of dull ache in my left shoulder blade (doesn't seem to worsen or be caused by movement and first time I have had pain there), and a dull ache in my right foot and calf. Can "non-mechanical" pain be TMS? In other words, pain that doesn't come on or worsen with movement?

 

This IS the TMS wiki, so my answer is EVERYTHING you have written sounds like, resembles, appears to be, most likely is : classic TMS! But this is the internets, and I'm not a doc, just a tennis player.

My advice is stop getting asking your docs for more tests, trust that they know what they are doing in eliminating structural disease--but have not been taught anything in med school about psychosomatic/TMS/ dis-ease--that's all thrown under the allopathic medicine category of "the mentals".

After all the TESTING you have stated you've gone through, it is unlikely they missed anything fatal--one thing "moderne medicine" is good at is accurate testing--so they don't get sued for MALPRACTICE--it's called "defensive medicine". They are more concerned about NOT getting sued for missing something, then in you being healthy--emotionally. You are a body on the assembly line of the medical/industrial/Walgreens complex.

There's a TV show, "MYSTERY DIAGNOSIS", dealing with obscure diseases, cover your backside and send them your particulars on the slim chance your docs missed something you could appear on it--odds are slim though--and I'm being facetious in case that doesn't come over on the internets.

So, somehow you found yourself at TMS--likely like all the others--after exhausting EVERY other possible cause for your chronic pain--no one comes here first--usually it's last, because TMS/psychsomaic dis-ease is the cause of 80% of chronic pain.

Start reading the TMS books, and listening to and watching the TMS AV materials. You need to un-condition yourself from your structural/body focus for your symptoms and learn to understand the other side of the chronic pain coin, the sub-conscious emotional causes. Immerse yourself in Dr. Sarno's KNOWLEDGE PENICILLIN.

 

Adam, I'm in agreement with Tennis Tom, above. Being 100% focused on your symptoms is creating more. In essence, you get what you look for. Why would you be so determined that you have something really wrong? Ask yourself why you want someone to confirm that for you. Read about the amygdala in the brain and how it responds to stress. I think you're in a vicious cycle of not letting your "fight or flee" response to relax. Many people on this forum: Steve Ozanich, Walt, Herbie, Tennis Tom, Jan APA, Plum, Bruce, have tons of experience with Sarno and TMS. Stop reading scary stuff and focus on their hopeful words. Go outside and enjoy the day.